COMMUNITY hospitals in County Durham have received top marks for privacy and dignity, food and environment in a recent round of inspections.

NHS County Durham and Darlingtons four community hospitals all achieved the maximum standard in the recent Patient Environment Action Team inspections. They are: Richardson Hospital in Barnard Castle; Sedgefield Community Hospital; Weardale Community Hospital in Stanhope; Shotley Bridge Community Hospital.

Managed by the National Patient Safety Agency, every year the programme assesses healthcare facilities in England with 10 or more inpatient beds.

Inspection teams look at standards within three main categories - environment, food, privacy and dignity.

They look at levels of cleanliness, some aspects of infection control , the quality of the environment as well as the standard of food offered to patients.

All of NHS County Durham and Darlingtons hospitals achieved an Excellent rating in each category.

Jan Connor, modern matron at Sedgefield Community Hospital, said: The excellent results are yet again due to the dedication and hard work from all the staff, who work as a team to ensure that patients who access our services are cared for in a clean environment, where a good nutritional intake is high on the agenda and privacy and dignity is embedded into the culture of the community hospitals.

I feel very privileged and proud to be matron of Sedgefield Community Hospital and would like to thank all the team for their dedication and hard work.

Julie Walton, modern matron at Weardale Hospital in Stanhope said: The inspection team commented that the hospital was exceptionally clean and we have also had some interior and exterior decoration carried out to improve the patient environment.

Karen Dyson, modern matron at the Richardson Hospital in Barnard Castle said: Once again, staff at the Richardson Community Hospital have achieved an excellent report. This is due to the hard work and dedication shown by all staff at the hospital who work tirelessly to make the environment as clean and comfortable as possible for our patients. I would just like to say a huge thank you to all my team: you are all wonderful and work extremely hard to care for our patients.